TEHRAN: The third aircraft, Iran has purchased from European aviation giant Airbus
has landed in the Iranian capital of Tehran. The long-haul A330-200 touched down at
Tehran’s Mehrabad International Airport on Saturday, March 25, a day after it was
officially delivered to Iran in the French city of Toulouse.
Mr. Farhad Parvaresh, Managing Director of Iran’s national flag carrier Iran Air,
attended the ceremony to receive the aircraft having configuration of 32 business class
and 206 economy class seats. The aircraft is suitable for long-distance flights.
It joins another A330 and a smaller A321 delivered to Iran in March and January this
year by Airbus.
Its delivery to Iran was made possible under an 18-billion-dollar deal Iran signed with
Airbus last year to purchase 100 new planes, including 46 aircraft from the A320 family,
38 from the A330 family, and 16 from the A350 XWB.
In 2016, Iran inked another agreement worth 16.6 billion dollars to buy 80 new planes
from the US aviation company, Boeing, comprising 50 737 airliners and 30 777s.
Iran Air is also expected to finalize an accord with European manufacturer ATR to
purchase 20 turboprops.
The agreements came after the restrictions imposed on Iran’s aviation industry were
lifted following the nuclear deal – known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action
(JCPOA).
The JCPOA was signed between Iran and the five permanent members of the United
Nations Security Council, the United States, France , Russia , China and Britain plus
Germany on July 14, 2015. The Islamic Republic and the six world powers started
implementing the JCPOA on January 16, 2016.
